Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/21

THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL 11 Platte. Hundreds of cattle were lost, many of which were never recovered. Some parties lost half their animals, others had only one or two yoke left. Some spent several days searching for their lost stock—sometimes finding them twenty or thirty miles off the road. 48 About two weeks later another such storm visited the region. 49 An exciting event in the life of those following the trail was a stampede. Sometimes the cattle or oxen would become frightened at night and suddenly go thundering along the river or across the prairie, stopping for nothing while the panic swayed them. One herd of some two hun- dred oxen stampeded along the Platte one night and were found the next day six or eight miles down the river, on an island in the middle of the stream. 50 Worse than this was a stampede during the day, when the oxen were yoked to the wagons. If the drivers tried to stop them while they were on the run they would turn short, upset the wagon and probably break their own necks, to say nothing of imperiling the lives of those in the wagons. The only way to manage a stampede was just to let the oxen run until they stopped of their own accord, which they usually did in a very few minutes. Then they would run in a straight line and little damage would result. 51 Like the rain, the dust was a respecter of none. It also was one of the common things which made life dis- agreeable for the emigrant. None could escape it, few fail to mention it when recording their experiences. When the Platte was left behind the dust began. On the Sweetwater, on Sublette's cut-off, on Bear River, on the Snake, along the Humboldt it was a frequent if not con- tinual irritation. On the Sweetwater Major Cross found it so thick that at times it hid his whole command. 52 On the Snake with the hot sun beating down, "We continued 48 Delano, op. cit., pp. 57 -58. 49 Report of Major Cross, op. cit., p. 149. 50 Langworthy, op. cit., p. 41. 51 Brooks, op. cit., pp. 211 -213 . 52 Report of Major Cross, op. cit., p. 168.